Land Use Change Modeling in the Little River Basin GA

Land use change modeling in the Little River Basin GA combined hydrologic and economic modeling results in both deterministic and stochastic optimization approaches to optimize land use change to meet water quality regulations in the Basin.

This modeling study was not a part of the Participatory Modeling Process (PMP) and did not involve stakeholder feedback in the process.

Key Findings

Results showed that as water quality regulations become more stringent more row crops must convert to forestry to achieve compliance, resulting in a reduction of aggregate profits to the producers in the region; agricultural profits decrease when uncertainties are considered at the watershed level; and uncertainties of meeting the water quality standards expedited the land use transition from croplands to forestlands and magnified the share of forestlands.

Fig10-Land use change

Publications

  • Bawa, R., & Dwivedi, P. (2019). Impact of land cover on groundwater quality in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Florida, United States. Environmental Pollution, 252(Part B), 1828-1840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.06.054
  • Bawa, R. (2021). Ecological and economic tradeoffs associated with land cover change and water services in southeast United States ( 28410683) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia]. University of Georgia ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. https://esploro.libs.uga.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Ecological-and-Economic-Tradeoffs-associated-with/9949375459302959
  • Bawa, R., & Dwivedi, P. (2021). Estimating marginal costs of additional water flow from a Loblolly Pine stand in South Georgia, United States. Journal of Forestry, 119(4), 329-336. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvab010
  • Bawa, R., Dwivedi, P., Hoghooghi, N., Kalin, L., & Huang, Yu-Kai. (2023a). Designing Watersheds for Integrated Development (DWID): combining hydrological and economic modeling for optimizing land use change to meet water quality regulations. Water Resources and Economics, 41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2022.100209
  • Bawa, R., Colson, G., & Dwivedi, P. (2023b). Monetary compensation for changing forest management practices to increase water availability in Georgia, United States. Environmental Research Letters, 18(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd019
  • Huang, Y., Bawa, R., Mullen, J., Hoghooghi, N., Kalin, L., & Dwivedi, P. (2022). Designing Watersheds for Integrated Development (DWID): a stochastic dynamic optimization approach for understanding expected land use changes to meet potential water quality regulations. Agricultural Water Management, 271(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107799
  • Huang, Y., Dwivedi, P., Karki, R., & Kalin, L. (2023). Potential impacts of land use change on streamflow and groundwater resources under changing climate in the Flint River Basin, Georgia, United States. Environmental Research Communications. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acf48e

Meet the team

Puneet Dwivedi, University of Georgia
Yu-Kai Huang, University of Georgia
Ranjit Bawa, University of Georgia

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